Foo Fighters set aside a portion of their headlining performance at this past weekend’s Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware to perform a string of classic rock songs, including Alice Cooper‘s “School’s Out,” the Rolling Stones‘ “Miss You,” Van Halen‘s “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” — with drummer Taylor Hawkins on vocals — and Queen and David Bowie‘s “Under Pressure.”
Frontman Dave Grohl introduced that segment of the set during Friday’s (June 20th) show by telling the 80,000-strong crowd, “I love rock and roll as much as the next guy, maybe even f***ing more than the next guy. I love being in the Foo Fighters. But tonight, for the next four or five songs, we’re a f***ing bar band called The Holy S***s that plays f***ing classic rock songs.”
- Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins told us that classic rock is an undeniable part of his influences: [“It’s there, you know, and I wear ’em heavily on my sleeve, my influences. It’s in my DNA now, you know. I’ve listened to it enough. I’m under the influence, no question, you know.”] SOUNDCUE (:09 OC: . . . question, you know.)
- The rest of the Foos’ set featured many of their staple hits, but no new material from their upcoming eighth studio album.
- Guitarist Chris Shiflett played the entire show seated in a chair onstage, with Grohl announcing, “Chris broke his foot or his ankle or something, but he came out here to play for you guys anyway.”
- The new Foo Fighters album will be out this fall, in conjunction with the premiere of a new HBO documentary series called Sonic Highways. The Dave Grohl-directed series will follow the band to eight iconic studios in different parts of the country, documenting the region’s musical history as well as the making of the record.
